Why NFL Referees Need to Be Full Time Employees

There are plenty of ways to justify and pontificate upon the above headline. 

One is the fact that the NFL is the most profitable and popular sports league in America, perhaps the most profitable and popular sports league in the world and/or the history of the world, yet it has "part-time" employees in charge of the officiating the rules?

Part-time officials are for little league, pee-wee football and YMCA league basketball games. 

Another is the fact that (presumably) full-time officials would make significantly more money than part-time officials. And, if you take the time to stop and think about it, referees deserve way more than they currently make—somewhere between $25,000 and 75,000 a year. That certainly sounds like a lot of money for what seems to be just a handful of workdays a year, but it obviously involves more than just 16 to 20 days per year.

Not only do they have to study the rules religiously, but there is a ton of pressure on them. Ed Hochuli and Phil Luckett were productive, respected officials in the NFL for years before one gaffe (the Thanksgiving Day coin toss for Luckett, that 2008 Charger-Broncos fiasco for Hoculi) sabotaged their careers.

Of all the stressful gigs in the NFL, referee ranks way above plenty of positions—like third-string guard or fourth-string tight end. 

But those (or any other) arguments you can make about the NFL needing to pay and treat their refs as full-time employees takes a back seat to this one: the NFL is so ridiculously over-specialized and micro-managed that it's almost inconceivable that such an important spot is headed up by, let's face it, freelancers. 

Teams have full-time "quality control" coaches, full-time marketing, publicity and community outreach people and full-time statisticians. Take the combine for example. Every single aspect of those players is scrutinized, measured, scanned, rinse, lather, repeat.

Yet the men charged with regulating the game that all those people work in aren't even full-time.

No one is saying that refs and line judges and side judges aren't good at their jobs. But they certainly can get better. Be it by working more closely with the replay aspect, further scrutinizing and interpreting the rule book, watching more game film to correct any ambiguities or mistakes, etc.

But perhaps the most critical aspect that referees would be able to improve as full-time employees? Physical conditioning.

It's such an absurdity that the greatest athletes in the world—Michael Vick, Cam Newton, Darrelle Revis—are being regulated by 50-something-year-old men who couldn't run a 4.4 40-yard dash with a rocket strapped to their back. (Ed Hochuli can have all the rippling biceps and pecs he wants, but that doesn't mean he can keep up Devin Hester or Patrick Peterson running down the sidelines).

Refs don't need to train with the Packers or Bills to run the 100-yard dash in under 10 seconds or squat 500 pounds, but they should be in the best shape possible. As full-time employees, they can afford to spend another hour on the elliptical or run a few extra laps around the track instead of racing to their day job. 

The game is so fast and so complicated and so refined that overkill is a necessity. Even if 9,999 plays are properly officiated during the 2012 season, if that 10,000th call is mishandled, it can be disastrous for the league. 

Making the job full-time (and again, paying officials like they are full-time, so there is an incentive for smart, successful and willing applicants to leave their jobs as dentists or lawyers or insurance salesmen) is the best way to achieve that.

And by doing so, the NFL will not only retain its position as the lead dog in the sports world, but it will push itself even beyond the rest of the competition.